Philippine Muslim rebels issue advisory to ambassadors (2nd Roundup)

Jul 24, 2007, 12:15 GMT

Cotabato City, Philippines - Muslim separatist rebels have warned foreign governments that development projects in the Philippines' troubled south might be disrupted by a looming military offensive, a guerrilla spokesman said Tuesday.

Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has sent letters to foreign ambassadors about possible disruptions of foreign-funded development projects in the southern region of Mindanao, according to MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu.

'We just want them (foreign governments) to know that their projects might be adversely affected if the fighting starts,' Kabalu told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview from his base in Mindanao.

'Our forces are staying put, but we will defend ourselves if attacked,' he added.

In his letter to diplomatic missions and international institutions, Murad insisted on an impartial investigation into the July 10 incident in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila, where 14 marines were killed, with 10 of them beheaded or mutilated.

'I propose that truth, right and justice, should determine the path to be followed in confronting this matter,' he said. 'Truth and certainty of the identity of the perpetrators of the act that triggered the mutilation...was under the circumstances of the first importance.'

Murad also decried the 'media spinmasters' that generated hostility toward the Muslim community.

He warned that armed confrontation between the MILF forces and government troops will 'produce deep agitation and political crisis' and will affect the primacy of the peace process.

But armed forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon expressed hope that the impending military attack on an MILF stronghold in Basilan would not adversely affect the peace talks between the MILF and the government.

'We are trying our best to uphold the primacy of the peace process,' he said. 'As much as possible (we hope) the peace process will not be scuttled. We know the importance of the peace process.'

Esperon said the government is determined to punish those responsible for the killing of the 14 marines during a clash with MILF rebels in Tipo-Tipo town.

'If we do not punish the beheaders, there will be future beheaders because they will think that beheading people is perfectly all right,' he said.

'This is not to avenge the soldiers, but to uphold the very basic right of the government to protect its citizens, to uphold the law and so we have always believed that punishing the barbaric act does not have to fall under the ambit of the peace process,' he added.

The government previously had given the MILF until July 22 to turn over the perpetrators of the gruesome killings, but the rebel group ignored the deadline.

The MILF admitted that its forces had killed the soldiers but denied beheading them.

The rebels said the soldiers entered their stronghold in Tipo-Tipo town without coordination, in violation of a 2003 ceasefire agreement signed by the MILF and the government.

They appealed to the government to hold off its offensive until a Malaysian-led international team monitoring the ceasefire would finish its probe on the incident.

An army official, who requested anonymity, said Tuesday troops had monitored about 500 MILF forces massing up in the town of Kabuntalan in Shariff Kabunsuan province, 300 kilometres east of Basilan.

The official said the rebel forces were gathering along the river bank about a kilometre away from an army camp in the area.

The rebels earlier warned that an attack on their forces in Basilan would trigger retaliatory offensives in other parts of Mindanao where MILF forces are present.

Kabalu denied the MILF was building up forces anywhere in Mindanao.

'Our troops are already there, they live in the area,' he said. 'Our MILF forces in Basilan have relatives in Shariff Kabunsuan. They might take acts on their own.'

Peace talks between the MILF and the government have been stalled since September last year over disagreements on how to expand an existing Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines.

The 12,000-strong MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao, home to the country's Muslim minority, since 1978.